Culture shock Flashcards
What is culture shock?
The process of adjusting from living in a familiar, predictable environment to living in a country where everything is new.
What are the stages of culture shock?
- Pre departure
- Vacation or honeymoon
- Angry (culture shock)
- Adjustment
- Isolation (2nd culture shock)
- Integration
- Reversed entry/culture shock
What are the characteristics of the pre-departure stage?
- Culture shock sets in before you even leave your country with stress and uncertainty.
- This is a very stressful experience especially for people from an individual, dominating-over-nature culture.
What are the characteristics of the vacation/honeymoon stage?
- You are excited, positive and full of energy.
What are the characteristics of the angry stage (culture shock)?
- Disappointment, disillusion
- You feel like an outsider
- You feel like you have failed in some way, you are angry and insecure
- Culture shock is good because it shows that you are in the process of learning a new culture.
How do you overcome culture shock?
- Do things that make you happy.
- If you feel like complaining only complain to non-local friends, because locals may feel attacked and hurt.
- When you are ready start practicing frame of reference shifting.
What are the characteristics of the adjustment stage?
- You are open to the new culture and have started learning more abut it.
- You no longer interpret what you see through the basic assumptions of your culture, but of the new culture.
What are the three adaptation strategies?
- Encapsulators
- Adopters
- Cosmopolitans
What are the characteristics of encapsulators?
- Survive in their cultural bubble or ghetto.
- They isolate themselves or only mingle with fellow foreigners.
What are the characteristics of adopters?
They fully integrate and assimilate into the culture of the host country, often giving up their original cultural identity.
What are the characteristics of cosmopolitans?
They experience intercultural growth by adapting to the host culture while also maintaining their own culture.
What are the characteristics of the integration stage?
You feel at ease.
What is reversed entry culture shock?
- The process of fitting back in your own familiar environment after living abroad.
- Follows a similar pattern as culture shock. It is often shorter, but more intense.
What are the three types of returnees?
- Alienated returnees
- Re-socialized returnees
- The proactive returnees
What are the characteristics of alienated returnees?
They are unable to put their newly developed skills to use and often look for a new job.